1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to containers and more particularly relates to an insulating container for cooking food with a lower insert for supporting the cooking implement and a cover for the insert.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
A number of cooking devices and cooking methods are known and have as an object the prevention of burning, overcooking or undercooking of food. A further object may be to maintain food at a service temperature, as long as required, without reheating the food. This is very important, especially in oriental households, to preserve the taste and visual appearance of the food. Different solutions to the aforegoing problems were tried and are known. For example, wrapping preheated or prefried food in newspapers and further in bedsheets and placing the food in a heater oven or, for example, in the classic cooking box, the steam pot (cooker) etc. It also has been suggested to place cooking pots in an insulating container. For this purpose, insulating containers are constructed having inserts or support bottoms which correspond to the pot shapes and which are provided with a cover. This construction solved the problem of maintaining the serving temperature of preheated food without any further heating. However, the disadvantage of such a solution is that the insulating container had to correspond to the cooking pot shape. It was always difficult to remove the pots from the insulating container. Very often the housewife was not able to remove the pot from the insulating container without somebody assisting her by holding the insulating container in place. A further disadvantage was the need to have the correct insulating container for each possible shape of cook pot used in the average household. Furthermore, it has been shown that cooking in such insulating containers does not meet the requirements of increased demands. A further disadvantage is that a flush placing of the cover onto the bottom or insert very often resulted in jamming of the cover, so that the cover could not be removed. The airtight seal between the cover, or the lid, and the container bottom resulted in a vacuum within the insulated container during a cooling off period, so that a considerable force was required to open the container. Therefore, the food was often spilled.
It is an object of the present invention to develop an insulating container which assures an improved heat conductivity, which is independent from the pot shape and which excludes a vacuum forming within the insulating container.